Thanksgiving has passed and now it is time to gear up for the holiday season in December. This means bracing for cold weather, snow fall and preparing for the New Year.
For most municipalities in the Northeastern United States, the impending winter climate means icy roads, snow plowing, and the Town of Colonie is no stranger to this.
Jack Cunningham, Colonie’s Public Work’s Commissioner explains that there is the usual snowplowing and salting of the roads to clear up the ice that can play a part in vehicle accidents. Cunningham said the town uses ten ton dump trucks with snow plows, nothing too out of the ordinary for this year. But he added that the town will be following a different procedure to make sure the morning commute goes a bit smoother.
This year we have started a second shift that will help us better prepare or address the late night snowfall, he said. `We’ll get on top of that quicker and address those safety issues.`
With salting the roads, there can sometimes be the worry too much salt is being used, but Cunningham said Colonie install their trucks with a computerized system to help control the amount used.
`Instead of tipping up the truck and letting the salt pour out, the computers determine how much salt should be put into the spinner,` he said.
While there is a lot of things that go into the town getting ready for the winter, they can certainly use some assistance from the residents of the town to help prepare.
`With the leaf pick up, we want to get as much of the yard waste off the side of the road before the snow starts to fly,` he said. `At this time of year, you could have a blizzard.`
Cunningham said the he is confident the project will be completed in time for the winter.
Residents have been advised to place reflectors or poles to mark the ends of their driveways so snowplows to not go across the lawn. When doing their own snowplowing, Cunningham said residents should not blow the snow back out into the road and direct their snow blowers towards the lawn of the side of their driveway.
`State law prohibits that,` he said of blowing snow back onto the road. `It creates a road hazard for drivers.`
The town has heard complaints about snowplows leaving too much snow at the end of their driveways, which Cunningham said they have worked hard to try and prevent. With cul-de-sacs, he chalked up the amount of snow at the end of residents’ driveways to an issue of physics.
`The front is shorter [of the cul-de-sac] is shorter than the back of the lot, so it appears to the resident that we’re dumping more on their driveway, but there’s nowhere else for the snow to go,` he said. `We try to move the snow to the middle of the cul-de-sac and we work very hard to keep the driveways as clear as possible when doing plowing.`
Since the town does not have a parking ordinance for the winter season like cities such as Albany, keeping vehicles off the road can be a great help to those operating the snow plows. The reason for not having a parking ordinance, said Cunningham, is because the town has wider streets.
`It creates more work for the town,` he said. `We have about 318 miles of town road, which means we plow 636 miles, because when plowing we have to go up the road and come down it. Where you have very wide roads, it can cause the staff to do a third trip because we don’t have plows that are wide enough.`
During the Comprehensive Plan Review meetings earlier this year, there were talks of narrowing the streets. Cunningham said the benefits to having narrow streets could contribute to safer roads and would help in plowing as well.
`The narrower roads reduce maintenance and you don’t have to do as much paving,` he said. `And narrower roads tend to calm traffic as cars drive slower.`
Colonie Police Lt. Ken Pero said the best thing people can do to ensure road safety is to make sure people leave more time to get to their destination so they do not end up rushing and driving their car off the road.
`Accidents off the road can take away from other higher emergencies,` he said, advising residents should not go out unless the have to.
Other suggestions were things such as vehicle maintenance like checking your tires and having good wipers. Stocking the car with emergency supplies can also come in handy, like having a gallon or two of water, a flashlight, jumper cables and even a cell phone.
`Always have a cell phone in case you breakdown off the road so you can call for help,` he said.“